Making Emotional Intelligence Approachable

The ladies at ElementQ were a joy to work with and we loved creating a custom logo design for them! They have such an interesting business and business model. They offer coaching, workshops and speaking engagements all surrounding Emotional Intelligence (EQ). 

Everyone is becoming more aware of their emotional intelligence (or lack thereof) and it is becoming a desirable skill in employees. Employers are spending a lot of time and energy getting staff and middle management trained on emotional intelligence. 

One of the interesting challenges with ElementQ is that they have a broad target audience. They want to target parents, employers, kids, men and women because ultimately everyone can benefit from Emotional Intelligence education. 

This meant we had to dig into the brand development process to create a quality logo that would go beyond age and gender. 

Brand Identity Objectives

ElementQ is one of its kind in the Edmonton area. They currently have very few competitors even internationally. We wanted to make sure that with their new brand and logo design they could position themselves as experts immediately.

The design had to be not too mature, not too juvenile. It needed to be masculine (while things are shifting men are still slow to talk about their emotions) but still appeal to women. Develop a professional brand for ElementQ, one of the first emotional intelligence companies of its kind in the Edmonton area. 

Creating a long-term universal brand was our ultimate goal when developing the ElementQ visuals. 

Target Audience

As we said above, ElementQ had a lot of different target audiences. They customize their courses to the group they are working with. The ladies at ElementQ had it figured out from a content perspective. It was our challenge to make create a professional brand that would appeal to them all.

Employers were a big target market for them since nobody is taught emotional intelligence. We know emotional intelligence is important, especially in a work setting, but there aren’t a lot of resources to train staff to understand their EQ.

Parents were another big target audience for ElementQ. It’s so important if you have young children that you are teaching them to manage their emotions healthily. The struggle for most parents is that they weren’t taught how to handle their emotions properly. ElementQ strives to be cycle breakers!

Then we thought about the individual. ElementQ has run workshops specifically for me, or specifically for women so that they can learn to talk about and manage their emotions as well.

It is okay to have multiple target audiences. Where ElementQ excelled is that they knew exactly who each of their target audiences was. They also knew what specific service that person needed from them. This gives us a springboard to know what they need to see in a brand. 

Design Solution & Company Logo

“The missing element” was the inspiration for the ElementQ brand. We look after our mental and physical health, but our emotional health and intelligence are often overlooked. 

Taking inspiration from science, the periodic table, and a bit of Bill Nye the Science Guy (because what demographic doesn’t like Bill Nye?!) we created the hexagonal Eq icon. We worked through many different logo ideas to get the right balance of science and friendliness.  

Colour and font were important to this design. Blue and teal are incredibly popular colours across multiple age groups and genders. The dark blue adds professionalism for corporate clients and the bright lime-yellow adds fun in situations where they can be more playful.

The gradient in the icon shows the spectrum of emotions. Paired with a modified font the dark blue once again highlights the importance of EQ. The result is a brand that is friendly yet professional to meet the needs of all the target markets. 

It was also important to us that the brand be adaptable. It has been used throughout their social media and multiple marketing materials like course booklets, business cards and t-shirts. 

Supplied by others: Strategy, copywriting, image art direction by the amazing bSocial Communications

Looking for an Emotional Brand?

We love creating emotional brands for emotional companies. Is your brand stirring up people’s emotions? If not, book a consultation call with us and we can get you headed in the right direction! Connect with your target audience with the help of our professional logo designers.